Chapter 9: The Confederation and the Constitution Flashcards
What did the American revolution lack? 2 things
It wasn’t a revolution in a sense of a radical or total change
How is the American Revolution different than the French and Russian revolution?
It did not suddenly and violently overturn the political and social framework.
How did not American people felt about the revolution?
They went on playing, marrying, working, and praying.
Many were not seriously disturbed by the fighting. And MOST isolated communities did not know a war was on!!!
What did changes ushered?
affecting social customs
political institutions,
and
ideas about society, government, and even gender roles
How many Loyalists robbed the new ship of state of conservative ballast?
80,000
The exodus of loyalists that robbed the new ship of state of conservative
ballast represented what?
The weakening of the aristocratic
upper crust, with all its culture and elegance
The exodus of loyalists that robbed the new ship of state of conservative
ballast lead to what?
new, Patriot elites to emerge. It also
cleared the field for more egalitarian ideas to sweep
across the land.
How was there an attempt for equality?
Most states reduced property owning requirments. And with republic fervor, most states sawed off primogeniture laws
How was there still a sense of inequality?
Ordinary men and women
demanded to be addressed as “Mr.” and “Mrs.”—
titles once reserved for the wealthy and highborn.And Continental Army officers who formed an exclusive
hereditary order, the Society of the Cincinnati.
What further stimulated social democracy?
by the growth of
trade organizations for artisans and laborers.
What did the Anglican Church reformed into?
Protestant Episcopal Church
Where was the struggle for divorce
between religion and government proved fiercest?
Virginia.
What did the Philadelphia Quakers in 1775 found?
the world’s
first antislavery society.
What was done with the slave trade or “black ivory?”
the Continental Congress in 1774 called for the complete abolition of the slave trade
How did the states responded to Congress’s action in 1774?
Responded positively. Several northern states
went further and either abolished slavery outright
or provided for the gradual emancipation of blacks.
Even on the plantations of Virginia, a few idealistic
masters freed their human chattels—the first frail
sprouts of the later abolitionist movement.
Why was the abolishing slavery incomplete?
No states south of Pennsylvania abolished
slavery
both North and South, the law
discriminated harshly against freed blacks and
slaves alike.
Emancipated African-Americans could
be barred from purchasing property, holding certain
jobs, and educating their children.
Could not inter marriage
Why did abolishing slavery did not go further?
Because the founding fathers was sacrificed to political expediency
What is republican motherhood?
selfless devotion of a mother
to her family was often cited as the very model of
republican behavior.
The idea went that the women raised the children and therefore held great power and responsibility with the future of the republic in their hands.
In1776 what did the Continental Congress called for?
~colonies to draft new constitutions.
~the Continental Congress was actually asking the colonies to summon themselves into being as new states.
~The sovereignty of these new states, according to the theory of republicanism, would rest on the authority of the people.
What did the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island do about the constitution?
retouched their colonial charters
What did Massachusetts do about the constitution?
it called a special convention to draft its constitution and then submitted the
final draft directly to the people for ratification.
Once adopted in 1780, the Massachusetts constitution could be changed only by another specially called constitutional convention. This procedure was later imitated in the drafting and ratification of the federal Constitution.
What made drafting the federal charter easier?
State constitutions had similarities
What did Americans do that differed from the British constitution?
The documents they drafted were contracts
that defined the powers of government, as did the
old colonial charters, but they drew their authority
from the people, not from the royal seal of a distant
king.
What the state constitutions consisted of?
~bills of rights, specifically guaranteeing long-prized liberties against later legislative encroachment.
~Most of them required the annual election of legislators, who were thus forced to stay in touch with the mood of the people.
~All of them deliberately created
weak executive and judicial branches,
Why was there a weak executive and judicial branch.
A generation of quarreling
with His Majesty’s officials had implanted a deep
distrust of despotic governors and arbitrary judges.
Who had the most power?
legislatures
The democratic character of the new state legislatures was reflected on what?
the presence of
many members from the recently enfranchised poorer western districts.
Did the economic changes affect the states? Why or why no?
Economic changes begotten by the war were likewise noteworthy, but not overwhelming.
~States seized control of former crown lands
~many of the large Loyalist holdings were confiscated and eventually
cut up into small farms.
What became the sharp stimulus in economic democracy? How?
manufacturing by
the prewar nonimportation agreements and later by
the war itself.
Goods that had formerly been imported
from Britain were mostly cut off, and the ingenious
Yankees were forced to make their own.
What were the drawbacks of economic Independence
~commerce of Britain was still reserved for the loyal parts of the empire.
~American ships were now barred from
British and British West Indies harbors.
~Fisheries were disrupted
~bounties for ships’ stores had abruptly ended. ~Some respects the hated British
Navigation Laws were more disagreeable after independence
than before.
How did trade changed?
New commercial outlets, fortunately, compensated
partially for the loss of old ones.
Americans could now trade freely with foreign nations
Where did Enterprising Yankee
shippers ventured to?.
Enterprising Yankee
shippers ventured boldly—and profitably—into the
Baltic and China Seas.
How did the war affect the economic democracy?
War had spawned demoralizing ~extravagance,speculation, and profiteering.
~Runaway inflation had been ruinous to many citizens.
~Congress had failed in its feeble attempts to curb
economic laws.
~The average citizen was probably
worse off financially at the end of the shooting than
at the start.
Second CC lacked what and controlled what?
without constitutional authority
control over military affairs and foreign policy
Shortly before declaring independence in 1776,
the Congress did what?
appointed a committee to draft a written
constitution for the new nation. The finished
product was the Articles of Confederation. Adopted
by Congress in 1777
How did the states felt about the Articles?
The chief apple of discord was western lands.
Six of the jealous states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, had no holdings beyond the Allegheny Mountains.
Seven, notably New York and Virginia,
were favored with enormous acreage
What was done withe the trans-Allegheny tracts owned by the states?
Congress pledged itself to dispose of these vast areas for the “common benefit.’’
It further agreed to carve from the new
public domain not colonies, but a number of
“republican’’ states, which in time would be admitted
to the Union on terms of complete equality with all the others.
Maryland at length gave in when New York surrendered
its western claims and Virginia seemed
about to do so.
What was the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation—some have said
“Articles of Confusion’’—provided for a loose confederation or “firm league of friendship.’’ ‘
~Thirteen independent states were thus linked together for joint action in dealing with common problems, such as foreign affairs.
~A clumsy Congress was to be the chief agency of government.
~There was no executive branch
~the vital judicial arm was left almost exclusively to
the states.
Was there fairness in voting bills?
Yes, Each state had a single vote.
All bills dealing
with subjects of importance required the support of nine states; any amendment of the Articles themselves required unanimous, whole ratification.
Could you change the Articles?
Unanimity
was almost impossible, and this meant that the
amending process, perhaps fortunately, was
unworkable. If it had been workable, the Republic
might have struggled along with a patched-up Articles
of Confederation rather than replace it with an
effective Constitution.
What two thing Congress could not do?
1) It had no power to regulate commerce, and this
loophole left the states free to establish conflictingly
different laws regarding tariffs and navigation.
2) Nor could the Congress enforce its tax-collection program.
It established a tax quota for each of the states
and then asked them please to contribute their
share on a voluntary basis.
What did the Articles proved to be?
Yet the Articles of Confederation, weak though
they were, proved to be a landmark in government.
This involved the yielding by the states of their sovereignty
to a completely recast federal government,
which in turn would leave them free to control their
local affairs.
What were the benefits of the Articles?
Articles of Confederation were a significant stepping-stone toward the present Constitution.
~They clearly outlined the general powers that were to be exercised by the central government, such as making treaties and establishing a postal service.
~As the first written constitution of the Republic, the Articles kept alive the flickering ideal of union and held the states
together
What is Old Northwest?
This area of land lay northwest
of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and
south of the Great Lakes.
